How to Get a Paypal Account Without a Credit Card

Nowadays, a growing number of people choose to shop and pay their bills through credit and debit card processing systems. Online bill payment and shopping saves time and is becoming more secure.

The payment gateway of credit card processing systems works as a POS terminal. It accepts payment details such as billing address, credit card number, quality and quantity of items, together with the customer’s encrypted order. The gateway contacts the bank of the customer and checks if money is available on his credit card so as to proceed with the transaction. If the amount is sufficient, the issuing company returns authorization to the gateway. Then, the funds are debited from the debit or credit card.

There are many credit and debit card processing systems such as 2CO, Fast Transact, and PayPal, among others. They allow merchants to accept various credit and debit cards: Discover, PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, etc.

PayPal, currently owned by eBay, is an online payment and money transfer service, an alternative to more traditional methods such as money orders or checks. The recepient of a transfer can either request payment in the form of a check or open their own account.

There are inherent security risks as with any other impersonal online transaction – such as identity theft or phishing. For this reason, PayPal tries to improve the safety of its services by mandating that customers go through a verification process. This process entails entering the user’s credit card number. There are numerous good reasons for a customer to avoid giving his credit card information to such companies, among which maintaining higher financial security and preventing identity theft. It is also possible that a customer doesn’t even own a credit card.

You may use the services of PayPal even without verification; however, the company imposes certain limits. Unverified customers will only be able to withdraw up to a point, after which they will have to either verify by providing banking information or stop using the service.

An alternative method of verification is to use an existing bank account or a debit card (provided it is with Visa or Mastercard). This option is available if your country and bank are part of PayPal’s approved network. In any case, you need to be registered with PayPal first – you can create a free buyer account, which will allow you to receive payments from other users. A free account does not entail any additional fees or charges.

When you enter the necessary checking or savings bank account information, you will have to deposit small amount of money, which you will need to write down. Then, you can fill in the account confirmation form to prove that this is your bank account and not someone else’s. When this is done successfully, you will be verified without exposing your credit card information online.

In a smiliar manner, you can use your debit card, which can be actually safer, since payments would be limited to your available balance (unless you have allowed overdrafts). This is the more expensive option because there are additional fees for withdrawing from a debit card.

Under certain circumstances, it is possible to use PayPal even without a bank account or debit card. In this case, you are a person who sells goods or services online, for which you get paid electronically. You can also try selling real life items on eBay and have payments transferred directly into your PayPal account. Once you have money in your account, you can use it to pay for goods or services from other websites – still without revealing any of your credit card or bank information.